Porterdale poised to lower millage rate | CovNews.com

While other cities and Newton County have raised their millage rates, the Porterdale City Council is actually planning to lower its rate, a move it hopes will help counteract the water rate increase it had to implement earlier this year.

The City Council is expected to vote to lower its millage rate – known colloquially as the property tax rate – from 19.892 to 19.392, based on a recommendation from the city’s budget committee, which said the city would still be in good financial shape despite a lower rate, City Clerk Megan Reid said last week.

The owner of a home valued at $20,000, not including a homestead exemption, would pay $159.13 in Porterdale taxes currently; that bill would be reduced by $4 with the millage rate reduction.

Porterdale is an exception among local governments in seeing its overall property values increase. The value of the city’s properties increased from $15.91 million to $16.19 million, the first increase since 2009. As with Newton County and cities like Covington and Oxford, Porterdale experienced significant declines in property values since 2009, when total values were $29.78 million.

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